An abandoned cathedral. A gruesome murder. A powerful supernaturalentity living in the catacombs. It all comes to a head in downtown LosAngeles. What will happen and who will live to tell the tale? Such is thestoryline ofCathedral, the thrilling new album and terrifying graphicnovel from director and musicianJohn Carpenter, based on a dreamCarpenter had in 2024.Cathedralhas all the drama, dark atmosphere, and frenetic pacing of aclassic heavy metal record. Especially designed as the soundtrack to thegraphic novel, each track corresponds to a specific section of the book.The liner notes included with the album packaging feature prompts foreach track, creating a fully interactive experience. Combined with thegraphic novel, it’s the closest thing to a new John Carpenter film in years.The music onCathedralretains all the eerie atmosphere and sinister pro-pulsion of the epochal scores Carpenter created for his filmsHalloween,The Fog, andAssault on Precinct 13, but this is a much heavier, riff-drivenenterprise. Carpenter is a firm believer that music plays a major role inwhat really makes something scary. That’s first and foremost,” the direc-tor says. “It’s all about making the music work.” “This is somewhat dif-ferent sounding stuff that we’ve done, but it’s done with the same desirein mind,” he adds. “In other words, put this thing on and imagine you’rewatching a movie. That’s what we want you to do.”Daniel Davies’ soaring, snaky guitars take center stage on opener “Prime-val,” “Elevator,” and the metal masterpiece “Lord of the Underground”while John Carpenter andCody Carpenter’ssynths take the lead on theominous “Desolation in the Underworld,” the plaintive “Death of theMapmaker,” and even converge with strings on “Abandoned Cathedral.”Whereas theLost Themesalbums were written as scores to movies of themind,Cathedralscores the first original graphic novel written by Carpen-ter, his wife and long-time creative partner, producer and editorSandyKing, and writerSean Sobczak, published byStorm King Comics. Aswith all of Carpenter’s musical forays of the last decade-plus, the albumwill be released by Sacred Bones.Cathedralawaits. Immerse yourself in John Carpenter’s universe all overagain.
Amethyst vinyl.
